against taliban and the kind of structure that we need to support going after al qaeda on the border of pakistan and afghanistan. perhaps it's time to shut down $17 billion worth of money going for reconstruction projects when our track record really stinks when it comes to reconstruction projects. now, i hope that you all are going to convince me i've become cynical and angry and frustrated about the way we're spending money in theater and i want to tell you i'm looking for good news. i hope we hear some today. but i think it is really time for a gut check. because i've got too many people in missouri saying, why can't we fix this road? then i look at the projects that we're building in afghanistan and it's hard to explain to them why we can't fix that road because we can't afford it, but yet we can throw money away in afghanistan on projects that are clearly not sustainable and if anybody would have spent time thinking about it in the first place, they would have realized that. that kind of planning has to begin happening and that kind of accountability has to be present. i'm pleased we have a